Supernaturals
by LazalotAnreads
Summary: When Bella and Jacob clean out Bella's attic in order to find stuff for the Annual Police Charity Auction, they discover a beautiful bejeweled silver trunk that changes everything.
1. Chapter 001

Title: Supernaturals

Author: Lazalot_Anreads

Beta: None

Characters/Pairings: Bella/Jacob, Billy/Charlie, Other Pairings

Rating: NC-17

Challenge: None

Summary: When Bella and Jacob clean out Bella's attic in order to find stuff for the Annual Police Charity Auction, they discover a beautiful bejeweled silver trunk that changes everything.

Notes: New Moon AU, No Imprinting, Slash, Alice didn't see Bella jump because Jacob was already to close

Chapter 001

"I can't believe you actually VOLUNTEERED for this job!" Jacob exclaimed in a disgusted tone, and promptly sneezed. "This is going to take YEARS!"

Looking around her dusty, cluttered attic, Bella couldn't help but wonder if he might be right. When she'd offered to sort through the room and find some stuff for the Annual Police Charity Auction for Charlie, she'd had absolutely no IDEA that it would be so PACKED. Not to mention FILTHY. "Well, how was I supposed to know it would be like this? I've never even been up here before."

Jacob chuckled. "Bella, Bella, Bella. When are you going to learn to look before you leap? Anyway, it's not all that bad, I guess. I mean, I bet this place is just FULL of cool stuff."

Bella couldn't help but smile, despite his teasing. Jacob always could see the silver lining in every cloud, no matter how dark or ominous that cloud might be. "Let's get started, then. You can take the left, I'll take the right, and we'll meet in the middle."

They spent the next four hours, minus a short break for lunch, cleaning away dirt and spider webs and sorting things into three piles - trash, keepsakes, and stuff that could be sold at the auction. Occasionally one of them would call the other over for help or an opinion on something, but for the most part they worked in companionable silence.

Bella was just about to suggest they quit for the day when she saw it. The ancient, obviously priceless bejeweled silver trunk was almost entirely hidden behind two stacks of boxes she hadn't gotten to yet. She gasped in awe, never having seen anything quite like it outside of television and movies, and walked towards it to get a closer look. "Hey, Jacob, come here for a minute!"

"Wow," he whispered when he saw the trunk, immediately shifting the boxes out of their way so that they could get a closer look. "It's like something out of a museum!"

"I know, right? I wonder what it's doing HERE." Bella knelt in front of it and examined the lock with cautious fingers. It didn't look like an ordinary padlock - for one thing, there was no place to insert a key, and for another, it had an oddly shaped indentation on the front of it. Without really thinking about it, she slid her thumb into the groove - it fit perfectly, like it was made to be there - and then yanked her hand away with a short shriek when the lock clicked open. "Holy shit!"

Jacob, disturbed, reached down to pull Bella to her feet and back a few steps for good measure. Almost immediately, a heavy gray mist started to seep out through the slight gap between the lid and the base, and they found themselves utterly unable to move as it took the shape of a young woman with ancient china blue eyes and waist length, wavy hair the color of sunlight.

The woman was dressed in a simple white shift that showed much more of her fair white skin than it covered, but her greeting was unarguably old fashioned - she curtsied. "Isabella. Jacob. I'm going to release the spell holding you in place, but please don't run. I'm no threat to either of you, I swear." With that, she snapped her fingers, and suddenly they were free.

Jacob moved slightly in front of Bella, more as a precaution than from any real fear - his instincts told him that he could trust this entity, and they had never let him down before. Still, he wasn't going to take any chances with Bella's safety. "What are you?"

The woman laughed, obviously not offended in the slightest bit by his admittedly rude demand. "My name is Marie Lynnette Swan, and I am a Witch. Or I was, before I died." She laughed again. Obviously her death wasn't a sore subject for her. "I'm simply a Spirit now, though I've retained my powers in order to train Isabella."

Bella gasped in shock. "Are you trying to tell me that I'M a Witch, too? You must be joking!"

"Damn, Bells, what IS it with you and the supernatural?" Jacob shook his head, never taking his eyes off of Marie. "Swan, huh? How are you related to Bella?"

"I'm her great grandmother. My maiden name is actually Powers, but I was more than happy to be done with that particular cliché when I married Michael." She turned her gaze to Bella. "This is no joke, darling. You are as much a Witch as your Jacob here is a Werewolf, and you have a very important destiny, which is why the First saw fit to seal me into this trunk until you were ready to learn."

Bella shook her head. "I'm sorry, but there has to be some kind of mistake! I don't have any special powers or anything, I'm just a normal Human girl!"

"Well, of course you don't have any powers YET, my dear. You haven't Pledged. But you will - you MUST." For the first time since she had appeared to them, there was no amusement in Marie's gaze. "This world is in terrible danger, Isabella, and may cease to exist completely if you don't accept your responsibility to the First. As of now, you and your father are the last of the Powers' line, the strongest line of Witches the world has ever seen. Both of you are needed."

CHARLIE was a Witch, too? Bella blinked rapidly and pinched herself, sure now that she had to be dreaming. But it hurt, and she didn't wake up, so that theory was thrown out the window. Maybe she'd gone crazy?

"What is the First? You've mentioned it twice, now." Jacob kept his tone calm, deciding with a quick glance at Bella that she was freaking out enough for both of them. "Also, I understand why you would know Bells, but how do you know me?"

"The First is the First being, what most people call God. As for how I know you, well, I've been watching Isabella since the moment she was born, the moment I was sealed into the trunk. I know everyone that she knows." Marie smiled. "I had to have SOMETHING to keep me occupied for the last eighteen and a half years, after all."

"Okay, that makes sense. What is the world in danger from?" Jacob wrapped his arm around Bella's shoulders and pulled her against him, hoping that she might calm down a little bit. He was grateful - and slightly smug - when her trembling began to ease almost immediately. "I'm not exactly comfortable with putting Bells in ANY sort of danger, let alone the world ending kind."

"It's not just one danger; there are many, and unfortunately I'm not allowed to tell you what they are." Marie heaved a frustrated sigh. "I'd tell you anyway, of course, but the First has made it impossible - I simply cannot say the words. However, I can tell you that the dangers are coming whether Isabella and Charles Pledge or not, but that they along with the rest of the world will be safer if they do."

Bella bit her lip. "That makes sense, I suppose, but I really can't see MY father being a Witch anymore than I can see myself being one. You plan on making me Pledge so that he HAS to, don't you? Otherwise you wouldn't have waited for me, you'd have already recruited him or whatever. I don't think I can do that to him, Marie - it just doesn't seem fair. In fact, it seems downright MANIPULATIVE."

"It is." Marie looked embarrassed, actually blushing a bit. "But unfortunately, it's necessary. When everything is at stake, my dear, you have to make some sacrifices. Charles really WON'T Pledge unless you do, and he is as needed by the First as you are. I know that you don't want to make such a decision for him, but you are the only one who CAN. If it's any consolation, I don't think he'll be angry with you at all, and in the end he'll probably agree that it was all for the best."

"I don't know." Bella shook her head and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again. "I need some more information. What exactly is this Pledge that we have to make to become Witches?"

"The Pledge is basically a promise to use the powers you will receive for Good instead of Evil. Of course, some Witches - the bad ones - Pledge to use their powers for Evil instead of Good, but no Powers Witch has ever worked for the Second. That would be Satan, in Christian terms."

"How can I be sure that YOU aren't Evil? I mean, you say you're my great grandmother, but I've never seen a picture of her so I can't even verify THAT. You could be lying about EVERYTHING!" Bella didn't know what to do, and she was terrified of making the wrong choice. She looked up at Jacob, hoping desperately that he would have the right answer for her even though she didn't see how he COULD.

Jacob swallowed hard as he met her gaze. "I can't tell you what choice to make, Bells, that's up to you. But I can tell you that I don't think Marie is lying at all. I mean, I can't listen to her heart rate, obviously, but my instincts are telling me that she's trustworthy. They've never let me down before, and besides, the two of you do have some similarities. You have Marie's skin tone, at least, and her hands."

"Okay, then." Bella took a deep breath and looked back at Marie. "If Jacob says that I can trust you, then I know I can. So let's do this before I change my mind."

Looking extremely relieved, Marie turned around and lifted the lid of the trunk she'd come out of, reaching in to pull out a sharp edged quartz crystal dagger. Facing them once again, she offered Bella the dagger, handle first. "This is a blood oath, so you'll have to slice your palm open, but don't worry - once you say the words, the wound will close on its own. It'll leave a thin silver scar, but that's it."

Bella, who hated the sight of any blood, especially her own, made a face but took the dagger anyway. "What are the words?"

"You cut your palm, let your blood drip to the floor, and say 'I, Isabella Marie Swan, do solemnly Pledge that I will always use my power in the name of the First, for Good and against Evil' and that's it." Marie smiled. "There will be a bright flash of light, and then the wound will close and you'll have whichever powers you're meant to have."

It was simple enough, at least. Taking a deep breath, Bella gripped the blade of the dagger in her left hand and made the cut. "I, Isabella Marie Swan, do solemnly Pledge that I will always use my power in the name of the First, for Good and against Evil." As soon as the last word was out of her mouth, lightning struck.

That was what it looked like, anyway, and what she imagined it would feel like. It was gone in an instant, leaving her tingling all over and swaying on her feet. Jacob, his eyes still squeezed shut in reaction, pulled her more tightly to his side so that she wouldn't fall and she sagged against him in relief, looking at her palm to examine her new scar. She was surprised to find that it wasn't just COLORED silver, it actually WAS silver. Like the metal, only somehow it was a part of her skin. "Whoa."

Jacob warily opened his watery eyes and grabbed her hand, pulling it up close to his face to examine the mark. "Wow. So I guess we're BOTH freaks, now." He sounded entirely too happy about that fact.

Bella laughed, not offended in the least. "Yeah, I guess we are."


	2. Chapter 002

Title: Supernaturals

Author: Lazalot_Anreads

Beta: None

Characters/Pairings: Bella/Jacob, Billy/Charlie, Other Pairings

Rating: NC-17

Challenge: None

Summary: When Bella and Jacob clean out Bella's attic in order to find stuff for the Annual Police Charity Auction, they discover a beautiful bejeweled silver trunk that changes everything.

Notes: New Moon AU, No Imprinting, Slash, Alice didn't see Bella jump because Jacob was already to close

Chapter 002

"So what kind of powers did Bells get?" Jacob asked Marie after the dead Witch had used a spell to finish the job that had brought he and Bella to the attic in the first place. The three of them were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking Dr. Pepper. "Or do you know?"

"I have some ideas." Marie shrugged. "Witches' powers are based on their personalities, for the most part. Since I've been watching Bella from the moment she was born, I'd like to think I know quite a bit about her, but there are always bound to be a few surprises. We'll just have to try different things."

"Well, what are YOUR powers?" Bella raised her eyebrows curiously. "Oh, and how is it that you can drink anything? I thought you were dead, and last time I checked, dead people don't get thirsty."

"I might not get thirsty, but I still have taste buds. Most Spirits don't, of course, but the First agreed to let me have a normal human body once you released me, so I'm taking full advantage of it. The only thing I don't have is a heartbeat - oh, and I don't actually HAVE to breath unless I'm talking. I don't have to drink, eat, or sleep either, but I can if I want." Marie smiled. "It's a sort of perk for taking on the job of training you and your father. As for my powers, well, check this out." She held up her hand, showing them her own silver scar, and watched their reactions as it started to shrink.

Jacob looked a little bit ill as he watched the appendage shrink to an impossibly tiny size but still remain attached. "No offence, but that's kind of gross, Marie. What part of your personality gives you THAT ability?"

"None taken." She giggled and her hand returned to normal size. "The ability to change size comes from my adaptable nature, I think, something Isabella and I have in common. She might be able to do the same thing, but it's more likely that she won't because the other contributing factor is my sense of humor, which is vastly different from hers. Still, it can't hurt to try." Marie turned her attention to Bella. "All you need is imagination and focus to use the powers you were given, once you know what they are. Try it, hon. Just hold up your hand and imagine that it's either shrinking or growing."

Bella made a face, shrugged, and held up her hand, narrowing her eyes at it. In her mind's eye, she saw it start to grow, but after several minutes she decided that it wasn't going to work. She put her hand down. "Yeah, I can't really say that I'm sorry that didn't work. I can see how being able to change size at will would be handy in some situations, but frankly the entire idea gives me the creeps. No offence."

"It's quite alright, both of you." Marie rolled her eyes. "Most Witches in my own time found it revolting, too. It DID get me out of some pretty dangerous situations, though."

"I'm sure it did." Jacob waved a dismissive hand. "But you said you had some ideas on what powers Bella actually WOULD have, so let's try one of those. Charlie will be home in a couple of hours and we have to be able to prove to him that Bells actually Pledged before HE will."

"Yeah, that's a conversation I am so NOT looking forward to." Bella gave a dramatic shudder, but quickly grew serious again. "I've never seen my Dad really freak out about anything, but I know he will about this. Not that I can really blame him; I just don't want to get yelled at. It's only fair, though, since I pretty much made his decision about this for him. I still feel really bad about that, you guys, no matter how necessary I know it was."

"It'll be okay, Bells." Jacob offered her a sweet smile. "Charlie loves you, and even more than that, he TRUSTS you. Once he calms down, he'll realize that you did the right thing. Plus …" He paused and swallowed hard, the smile falling from his lips as he lowered his head. "Well, you'll finally be able to tell him the truth about THEM, and it'll probably bring you guys a lot closer."

Bella felt a familiar pang, but she ignored it and reached over to give Jacob's hand a quick squeeze. When she let go, he looked up, and she smiled as brightly as she could for him. "You're right, of course. He deserves to know the truth … I just hope it doesn't hurt him too much."

"Bella - it's okay if I call you Bella, right? You prefer it?" Marie waited until her great granddaughter nodded before continuing. "The fact that you were once willing to give up your very LIFE for someone so unworthy - and he IS unworthy, no matter if you know it yet or not - is always going to be a sore subject for anyone who loves you." She very carefully did not look at Jacob, but he flinched anyway. "But the important thing is that it didn't happen, and that you no longer feel that way. Because you don't, do you, hon?"

Bella didn't look at Jacob, but she felt his sudden tension anyway, the same way she had felt him flinch at Marie's use of the word 'love' a moment before. Though she was uncomfortable, she was also grateful for the opportunity to finally speak the words she'd wanted to say for the past month. "I was a blind idiot back then. I was so in love with E-Edward C-Cullen that I romanticized everything about him, including his Vampirism. I know better now, and I like to think that even if he and his family had stayed, I still would have figured it out on my own before I did something irreversible. Being a Vampire isn't glamorous, it's a curse, and even if it wasn't, it STILL wouldn't be worth leaving everyone I care about behind."

Jacob didn't relax. "Bella?" He waited until she turned to him to continue. His eyes were very serious. "What if he were to come back and tell you that he still loved you? I'm not trying to hurt you, but I need to know the truth. If he was here, and he still loved you, and he asked you to join his family, would you do it?"

Bella didn't even hesitate, despite her aching heart. "NO. It would be hard to say that to his face under those circumstances, I won't lie to you, but I'd say it anyway. E-Edward and I … we just aren't meant to be together. But despite everything, I still consider them ALL my friends, and I hope that you can respect that."

Jacob smiled brilliantly and slumped back in his chair. "Hey, I'm not STUPID. I know better than to try to tell you what to do."

Bella returned his grin. "Good. Because I would TOTALLY use my powers on you if you tried. Once I figure out what they are, that is. Marie?" She turned her attention back to her great grandmother, who was smiling smugly, obviously pleased with herself. "We've only got a little over an hour left before Dad gets home, so tell me a power you think I actually HAVE."

Marie stopped smiling and nodded. "Okay, there's one power that I'm POSITIVE you have. It's an extremely rare power called Shielding - oh, I almost forgot, the power I showed you is called Sizing, and even though you don't have it, you still need to know about it. I WILL be testing both you and your father often as I train the two of you. But anyway, back to Shielding - remember how Edward could never read your mind?"

"Yeah, I always wondered about that." Bella looked excited. "That's a part of this Shielding power? How come I could do it before I Pledged?"

"Well, you weren't actually DOING anything." Marie grinned, her eyes lighting up as she began to explain. "The Shield is a part of you, like your leg or your IQ. You were born with it. It blocked your thoughts from Edward because some part of you never trusted him, even though you may not have been aware of it. The thing is, it can do so much MORE than that. With enough practice, you'll be able to Shield ANYONE against ANYTHING."

Bella grinned widely. "That's great! How do I do it?"

Marie heaved a put upon sigh and rolled her eyes, though her smile never faded. "You're new, so I'll forgive you your forgetfulness THIS time, but from now on I need you to try to retain everything I tell you. Imagination and focus are the keys, Bella. Of course, to imagine something, you need to know what it looks like. Close your eyes and take a deep breath, hon."

Bella didn't know how that was going to help her see something that was apparently invisible, but she shrugged and did as she was told anyway. "Now what?"

"Concentrate on the blackness. Try to clear your head and just LOOK at it. Eventually, you'll see a color. Once you've seen it, tell me what it is and open your eyes." Marie sat back to wait patiently, turning her attention to Jacob, who was wholly focused on Bella, his adoration of her great granddaughter obvious to anyone who cared to see it. They'd need to work on his inability to hide his emotions - not that there was anything WRONG with them, of course. Marie just didn't want him to be so easily readable by an enemy.

After about five minutes, Bella was frustrated, but she kept looking anyway. Marie had said she was POSITIVE that Bella had the power, after all, and Jacob had said he trusted the dead Witch. That was more than enough to make Bella trust her, too. "Oh!" There it was! She opened her eyes and clapped her hands, practically bouncing in her excitement. "It's the same color as your hair, Marie! Like sunlight!"

Marie was startled but pleased by the compliment. She blushed and smiled, fingering a strand of the hair in question. "Thank you, hon. Now that you know what it looks like, I want you to imagine it covering every inch of yourself. Focus on blocking physical attacks. Imagine faceless people trying to hit you but being bounced backward by the Shield. But keep your eyes open! You never want to learn to use a power with your eyes closed until AFTER you've learned to do it with them open." Once again, she closed her mouth and waited, glancing at the clock. They still had forty five minutes before her grandson was scheduled to walk in the door.

Bella struggled at first. It was hard to picture something in her mind when she was already seeing so much outside of it, and her eyes kept trying to slide shut. She could definitely understand why Marie had warned her against learning that way first - if she did, it would be practically impossible to break the habit later. After about fifteen minutes of working at it, though, it happened. Quite abruptly, she found herself looking at the world through a transparent golden cloud. She squealed. "I DID it!"

Marie smiled. "I knew you could." Then, without any warning at all, her hand snaked out and she slapped Bella across the face as hard as she could. At least, she TRIED to. Her hand never made contact with her granddaughter's skin; it hit the shield, instead, and both she and the chair she was sitting in went flying before either Bella or Jacob could even react to the threat.

"What the HELL?" Jacob jumped up and reached for Bella, intending to push her behind himself, but he never made contact either. He landed on the opposite side of the kitchen from Marie, hitting the wall so hard that he actually splintered the thick oak paneling.

That's the sight Charlie walked in on - his daughter sitting in a kitchen chair with her mouth hanging open, GLOWING, while Jacob and a vaguely familiar woman picked themselves up off of his kitchen floor. Unknowingly, he echoed Jacob's words. "What the HELL?"


	3. Chapter 003

Title: Supernaturals

Author: Lazalot_Anreads

Beta: None

Characters/Pairings: Bella/Jacob, Billy/Charlie, Other Pairings

Rating: NC-17

Challenge: None

Summary: When Bella and Jacob clean out Bella's attic in order to find stuff for the Annual Police Charity Auction, they discover a beautiful bejeweled silver trunk that changes everything.

Notes: New Moon AU, No Imprinting, Slash, Alice didn't see Bella jump because Jacob was already to close

Chapter 003

"Dad! You're early!" Bella leapt to her feet, knocking her chair to the floor and automatically dropping her Shield. She groaned and covered her face with her hands. "You just HAD to pick TODAY of all days to come home early, didn't you?"

Marie crossed the kitchen to help Jacob to his feet, rolling her eyes when he glared at her. "I KNEW that would happen, okay? I wasn't trying to hurt her."

"WHAT is going ON here?" Charlie roared, and Jacob winced and accepted Marie's hand. He REALLY didn't want to be on his back for the conversation that was about to take place. "Somebody had better start talking right NOW!"

"Calm down, Charles, before you render these poor children deaf." Marie hauled Jacob to his feet easily and turned to face her grandson. "We plan on explaining everything, but it's a very long story and I want your WORD that you'll listen to it AND let us prove it to be true before you do something foolish like call for backup."

"Hey, this is MY house, and I don't even KNOW you! Who do you think you ARE, ordering me around?" Charlie was beet red by the time he got the last word out of his mouth, his chest heaving and his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

"Me?" Marie smirked and crossed her arms, leaning her hip against the kitchen counter. "I'm Marie Lynnette Swan. Take a closer look at my eyes, Charles."

But Charlie didn't need to take a closer look. The name and the face clicked in his mind, and he stumbled backward, clutching his chest as his heart began spinning cartwheels. "Impossible!" He gasped the word.

"Dad!" Bella shot Marie a dirty look and rushed to her father, helping him over to the only chair that remained upright. "Sit down, it's going to be okay, I PROMISE. Take deep breaths, calm down." But words weren't doing the trick, and even Marie was beginning to look concerned. "DADDY! PLEASE!"

Charlie finally tore his gaze away from his long dead grandmother and looked into his daughter's desperate eyes. He took one deep breath, then another, and talked himself out of a heart attack with the sheer force of his will. He was NOT going to die in front of his little girl - she'd been through ENOUGH in the past year. "Okay, I'm okay," he finally muttered, though he remained stiff and very carefully did NOT look at Marie again. "Don't cry, I can't take it." He reached up to wipe the tears from Bella's cheeks.

"Oh, Dad," Bella laughed darkly and grabbed his hands in hers, squeezing them tightly but briefly, "by the time I get done telling you what you need to know, YOU might be the one crying. I'm so, SO sorry that I have to drag you into my crazy life."

"OUR crazy LIVES," Jacob corrected her, picking her chair up and sliding it under her butt just as her knees gave out. He met Charlie's gaze over her shoulder. "Where do you keep your liquor, sir? I'm afraid you're going to need it."

"There's half a bottle of Jack Daniels in the cabinet above the sink." Charlie nodded gratefully when Jacob brought it to him, unscrewed the cap, and took a long drink as his best friend's son and his DEAD grandmother picked up their respective chairs and made themselves comfortable. He closed his eyes and took another long drink, just for good measure, before opening them again and focusing on his daughter's distraught face. "Alright, sweetheart. Start at the beginning."

"It's all going to be pretty unbelievable," Bella warned him, her dark eyes serious. "I can prove most of it, but there are some things that you'll just have to take my word for."

"Bella, my grandmother has been dead since before I was born, yet here she sits." Charlie waved a hand in Marie's general direction, still not looking directly at the woman. "I'm either crazy, or everything that you're about to tell me is true. I don't want to be crazy, so I think I'll just go with the second option, if you don't mind." He took another drink and offered her the bottle. "Here, I think I can allow a little underage drinking under the circumstances."

Bella waved it away, though, so he offered it to Jacob, who accepted it gratefully and took a couple of short swigs before handing it back. "Thanks, Chief Swan. This has been a hell of a day, even for me. Even for BELLA!" He shook his head and reached over to squeeze his best friend's shoulder. "You can do this, Bells. Just pretend you're talking about somebody else."

"That'll never work." Bella bit her lip and finally looked away from her father, meeting Jacob's eyes. "There are some things you don't know, either. Some of it might make you mad. Can you control yourself?"

Jacob's eyes slid from her face to Charlie's. The Chief looked confused. "I can handle it, I think, but just in case … Listen, Charlie, has Dad ever told you the stories about the Quileute being descended from Wolves?"

"Yeah, you know how your father likes to tell tales." Charlie narrowed his eyes. "What are you getting at? What do Billy's stories have to do with your temper, and since when do you even HAVE a temper?" He didn't like the weird ideas that were popping into his head, most likely the result of Marie's presence and Bella's warning. "I've known you since you were in diapers. You're the happiest kid that I've ever met!"

"Yeah, I WAS. Most of the time I still am. But sometimes, Charlie, when I get angry enough …" Jacob took a deep breath and decided to just say it. It would be like ripping off a band aid. "I turn into a Wolf. I'm a Werewolf."

Charlie blinked once, twice, three times. He thought about protesting, finally made himself look at Marie, and thought better of it. "Okay. Can you control yourself in that form?" That was the most important thing - Bella's safety. He just needed to remember his daughter, and he would be able to handle anything. "Do I need my gun?" He touched the Glock 22 that still rested in its holster at his hip. He'd really hate to have to shoot Billy's son, but he would if he had to.

Jacob waved a dismissive hand. "I can control myself just fine in my Wolf skin, Chief Swan, don't worry. But if I start to shake and back away from you, keep your distance. It means that I can't control the urge to phase, and I need a LOT of space to keep from hurting someone in the PROCESS of changing into a Wolf. I'm the size of a horse in that form. I'll explain the rest when we get to that point in the story, but Bella has quite a bit that she needs to tell you first." He sat back and turned his attention to the youngest Swan. "Go ahead, Bells. We're ready."

Bella, feeling a bit braver since Jacob had started things off, turned her gaze to Charlie. He nodded, and she took a deep breath. "It all started with Edward Cullen," she began, for once not stuttering over his name, and smiled when her father sneered in reaction. "Do you remember that day when Tyler Crowley almost hit me with his van? Well, that was the first time that Edward saved my life."

She talked until her voice was hoarse, and nobody interrupted her. Jacob only came close to phasing once, when she talked about being bitten by James and what the venom had felt like, but he quickly got himself under control and she went on. She cried when she told them what Edward had said to her before he'd vanished from her life, and Charlie looked terribly angry, but all he did was reach for her hand. She held on tightly until it was Jacob's turn to talk, then got up to splash her face and pour herself a cold glass of water while he spoke.

Bella returned just as he finished up, and took her father's hand again. "Things were actually relatively normal until today. I mean, sure, Victoria is still after me and Jacob is still a Werewolf, but I was still Human."

"You're not Human anymore, though," Charlie said dully, recalling the way his daughter had been glowing when he walked through the kitchen door. He squeezed her hand and pinned her with a piercing gaze. "But you're still my daughter, Bella, and I still love you. No matter WHAT."

Bella looked away, tears once again springing to her eyes. She refused to let them fall, though. Quietly, she told him about finding the trunk in the attic and Marie's appearance. She told him some of the conversation, and about Pledging and the way it had felt. "I wasn't manipulated, Dad. I made the choice - and that's the hard part." She forced herself to look him in the eye again. "Because I didn't just make the choice for me." A single tear escaped, sliding down her cheek.

"You knew that if you did it, then I would too." Charlie found, to his surprise, that he wasn't angry. He let go of her hand and reached up to wipe the renegade tear away, managing a small smile even though he was still in a state of shock. "You made the right choice, Bella, and I wouldn't have. As far as I'm concerned, your safety is FAR more important than the safety of the world. You did the noble thing when I would have done the selfish thing. I'm not angry, sweetheart. I'm PROUD of you."

The dam broke, and Charlie pulled Bella out of her chair and into his lap as she sobbed her heart out. She cried for hours, until there simply weren't any tears left, and was still shaking when she wiped her face with the Kleenex Jacob brought her and crawled back into her own chair, gulping down the glass of water Marie had refreshed while Bella was still in her father's arms. Finally, though, she managed to pull herself together and smile weakly at all of them. "I guess that's been a long while coming."

Charlie smiled back and looked at the clock, finding to his dismay that it was almost ten pm. "Jacob, call and order some pizza - I know I'm starving, and YOUR stomach has been growling for at LEAST two hours. Then call Billy and tell him you're sleeping on our couch tonight, and that he and I have a lot to talk about tomorrow. Marie, get your dagger - I'm ready to Pledge. Bella, go lay down on the couch until the pizza gets here."

Nobody argued. It was late and everyone besides Marie was exhausted and hungry. She made her way to the attic slowly, however, seeing no need to rush, and used a follow spell on the trunk before heading back down to the kitchen. Charlie was sitting exactly as she'd left him, studying Jacob thoughtfully as he spoke to his father on the phone. Then Charlie caught sight of the floating trunk and turned to stare at IT instead. Marie smiled and snapped her fingers, and the trunk thumped to the floor. She used her foot to nudge it to the side out of the way. "The dagger is in the trunk, but it will have to wait until you've eaten. Otherwise you'll pass out. Like Bella told you earlier, it's VERY disorienting."

Charlie nodded his agreement, but waited until Jacob hung up the phone to speak. "How did you die, Marie? My father always refused to talk about it."

Marie sighed and sat down across from him as Jacob wandered into the living room to check on Bella. "I died giving birth to him. I suppose David felt guilty about it, although he shouldn't have. It was simply my time."

"I thought that might be it. He didn't talk about you much, and he always looked so sad whenever he looked at your picture." There was a knock at the front door and he got up, making his way through the living room where Bella and Jacob were resting to pay for the pizzas. Then the three of them rejoined Marie at the kitchen table to eat.


	4. Chapter 004

Title: Supernaturals

Author: Lazalot_Anreads

Beta: None

Characters/Pairings: Bella/Jacob, Billy/Charlie, Other Pairings

Rating: NC-17

Challenge: None

Summary: When Bella and Jacob clean out Bella's attic in order to find stuff for the Annual Police Charity Auction, they discover a beautiful bejeweled silver trunk that changes everything.

Notes: New Moon AU, No Imprinting, Slash, Alice didn't see Bella jump because Jacob was already to close

Chapter 004

"I, Charles Jonathon Swan, do solemnly Pledge that I will always use my power in the name of the First, for Good and against Evil." Though Bella had described the sensation in detail, Charlie was still taken by surprise when the 'lightning' hit him. Though he hadn't consciously acknowledged it before, in the back of his mind he hadn't really thought it would work for him. Oh, he'd known that the story his daughter had shared with him was true, but he hadn't actually believed that HE was really a Witch. "Wow. Damn, I feel STRANGE."

"Told you." Bella yawned and stretched. "I am so WASTED."

Jacob caught the yawn, followed by Charlie, and Marie laughed at them. "Go to bed, children. I'll clean up the kitchen. Charles, do you have work tomorrow?"

"Nah, I'll just call in sick whenever I wake up. The boys can handle things without me for one day. Oh, and Marie? Call me Charlie, please. Goodnight." That said, he waved at Jacob and helped his swaying daughter up the stairs to her room before giving his teeth a quick brush and heading to bed himself. Bella didn't even bother to clean up; she was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

Marie giggled to herself when Charlie and Jacob started an unconscious snoring competition and cleaned the kitchen with a quick spell before settling herself in her grandson's comfy recliner and closing her own eyes. She didn't need to sleep, but she could, and she'd always loved to dream.

Marie lured everyone out of bed and into the kitchen with the smell of coffee, pancakes, and sausage at eleven am the next morning. There were a few mumbled greetings and requests for the condiments, but for the most part breakfast - or brunch, technically - was a silent affair. Marie looked more alive than any of them, which she found incredibly ironic.

After breakfast, Charlie and Jacob took turns using the phone while Bella and Marie cleaned up the normal way, Charlie calling in sick to work and Jacob calling Billy to tell him to ask Sam for a lift to the Swans' house. Though his father sounded very concerned and more than a little suspicious, Jacob refused to tell him what was going on over the phone. After several failed attempts to get his son to fess up, Billy finally sighed and promised to be there, with Sam, as soon as he could. Then they said goodbye and hung up.

"Your Alpha won't be pleased with this situation, Jacob," Marie warned the Werewolf as she finished drying the last pan and put it away. "What do you plan to tell him, exactly?"

Jacob made a face. "He can read my thoughts when we're phased, Marie. It's not like I can keep anything a secret. But it doesn't matter, because by the time he leaves, he won't be MY Alpha anymore. I'm going to sever my ties to the Pack."

Bella spun around with a startled gasp, dropping the dishrag she'd been using to clean off the table to the floor. "You can DO that?"

"I hope so." Jacob ran his fingers through his hair. "I have to at least TRY. I don't trust Sam, Bella, you know that. There's something about him that just seems … OFF."

"What do you mean, OFF?" Charlie asked sharply, his finely honed police instincts picking up on the odd note of pain in the young Black's voice. "What's wrong with him?" He'd always felt uneasy around the boy in question, himself, but had never been able to pinpoint exactly why. Maybe Jacob, with his insight into Sam's mind, could finally shed some light on the reason.

"He seems to enjoy inflicting pain, and not just on bloodsuckers." Jacob quickly explained the memories he'd seen in his Alpha's mind of the way he'd hurt both Leah and Emily. "He acts all guilty about it but it just doesn't seem REAL. There's this underlying sense of pleasure I get from him whenever he relives those memories, and it's REALLY disturbing."

Charlie nodded, slowly and thoughtfully, and swung his piercing gaze to Marie. "What do you know about this?"

"Nothing, really," Marie replied truthfully. "But I do know that the night he found Bella in the woods, he cursed her pretty violently. She couldn't hear him, but I could. I got the impression that he blamed her for the Cullens' continued presence in Forks and his own transition from Human to Werewolf."

Bella winced and looked away from Jacob, bending down to pick up the dishrag. "He's not entirely wrong."

"Yes, he IS." Jacob took two long strides and gently gripped Bella's chin in his hand, bringing her gaze back to his. "Our ancestry is NOT your fault, Bells, and the Cullens were here before you ever even came to Forks. Besides, even if they hadn't been here, I'd rather be a Werewolf with a best friend than a Human without one. So there." He stuck his tongue out at her, and she giggled, throwing her arms around him. He hugged her back, tossing a wink back over his shoulder at her father.

Charlie rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. Still, he had a few more questions. "Okay, Jacob, stop copping a feel off of my only daughter and tell me just how strong Sam's hold on you IS, and how you think you can get out from under him. He and your father will be here soon, you know."

"I know." Jacob sighed, but let go of Bella and turned to face Charlie. "It's strong, REALLY strong. If Sam orders me to do something, or not to do something, I HAVE to follow that order. But I found a way around his orders once for Bella's sake, even though it shouldn't have been possible. I think that means that I'm somehow strong enough to break away from him entirely. I sure as hell HOPE so, anyway!"

"Well, just in case you can't, I'm getting my shotgun." Charlie strode out of the kitchen and grabbed the weapon from its place in the coat closet. A knock sounded at the kitchen door and he quickly loaded it, pocketing some extra shells. Werewolf or not, if Sam tried anything Charlie didn't like, he'd shoot the son of a bitch so full of holes that it would take MONTHS for the damage to heal, Werewolf or not. Gun in hand, he made his way back into the kitchen.

Billy was just wheeling himself in, Sam right behind him and looking at everybody suspiciously. When he caught sight of Charlie and his gun, he snarled angrily and pinned Jacob with a deadly glare. "What have you DONE?"

Jacob pushed Bella out of the way behind himself and crossed his arms, glaring right back at his Alpha. "I want OUT, Uley. I don't trust you and I REFUSE to take orders from you anymore!"

"Son!" Billy gasped as Sam started to tremble violently. He looked to Charlie for help and saw that his best friend was aiming his shotgun directly at Sam's heart. "Charlie! What the HELL is going on here?"

But Jacob was already leaping, phasing, tackling his Alpha right through the open doorway and into the backyard. Then Sam phased, too, and the fight was on. The two Werewolves didn't hold back, and the battle was bloody and downright BRUTAL. But to everyone's surprise, it took less than ten minutes for Jacob to pin his Alpha and get his jaws around the black Wolf's neck. They stayed frozen like that for about five more minutes, and then Jacob let go and Sam ran off, his tail literally between his legs.

"You did it!" Bella cheered, and rushed out to hug the huge russet Wolf whose few wounds were already almost healed. "Jacob, you WON!"

Marie used a repair spell on Jacob's clothes and, ignoring Billy's shocked sputtering, took them out and set them on the ground beside him. "Come on, Bella, let's give him a moment to get his clothes on," she said, taking her granddaughter's arm and leading her back into the house, closing the door behind them to give Jacob some privacy.

"I'm going upstairs to take a shower," Bella said quickly, with a quick glance at Jacob's father. "I did enough story telling yesterday, so I'll leave it up to you guys to explain things to Billy. Call me when you're done." With that, she raced up the stairs to her bedroom, hearing Jacob reenter the house just as she shut the door behind her.

She took her time picking out her outfit - a pair of faded, strategically ripped skinny jeans and a tight sky blue tank top, neither of which had ever been worn. Alice had bought them for her, along with many other things, about a month or so before the Cullens had left. Bella spent another five minutes picking out underwear from the same shopping trip, a lacy white bra and panty set that she actually HAD worn a couple of times before. Finally, she left her bedroom and went into the bathroom, studiously ignoring the voices that floated up from the kitchen.

Bella waxed her bikini area as well as her legs, then spent an hour taking a piping hot shower, actually washing everything twice just to kill a little extra time. Then she got out and dried off, dressed, and spent another ten minutes blowing her hair dry before brushing it until it shone. She put on make-up, even going so far as to line her eyes with black eyeliner and put some light pink shadow on her lids, finishing with two coats of mascara and three coats of sparkly bubblegum pink lip gloss. Then she clipped, filed, and painted her toenails and fingernails with a similarly colored nail polish. Once they were dry, she finally went back to her bedroom - leaving the door open this time so she could hear them when they called her - and put on a pair of blue sandals that matched her top almost perfectly before sitting down at the computer to check her email.

She had just finished sending a vague reply to an email from Renee when there was a knock on her door frame. She looked up and saw Charlie, who blinked in mild shock at the sight of the make-up on his daughter's face. "How is he taking everything?"

"Better than I did." Charlie shrugged, then asked, "What's the occasion? You look like you're going out on a date or something."

"Nah." Bella laughed. "I just dressed up a little to kill some time. I knew it'd take a while to explain everything to Billy."

"Well, you look beautiful. Lets go back downstairs - Marie is feeding the bottomless pit and his father, and then she's going to help us figure out our powers." He shook his head in amazement. "I can't BELIEVE we have powers. I wonder what mine are, and what the rest of yours are besides Shielding. This might actually turn out to be kind of … well, FUN."

Bella laughed again and followed him downstairs, where everyone had apparently already finished eating and were waiting for them in the living room. She sat down on the couch next to Jacob, ignoring his double take when he got a look at her, and Charlie sat down on her other side with a glare at Marie, who had already made herself comfortable in his recliner. Billy had parked his wheelchair on Jacob's other side.

"Well, lets do this," Bella said brightly. "It's Dad's turn. What do you think he can do, Marie?"

"Well, I don't know him nearly as well as you do," Marie pointed out. "What's his driving personality trait?"

Billy answered immediately, before Bella even had a chance to think about it. "Charlie's very protective, almost overly so. He spends a lot of time worrying, too, and not just about Bella - about EVERYBODY."

"So I'm an overprotective worrywart." Charlie leaned forward and made a face at his best friend. "Thanks a lot, Black. You're a real pal."

"Just calling it like I see it, Swan." Billy grinned. "Besides, it's not really such a bad thing, however you make it sound. It just means you care more than most people, and that's GOOD."

Charlie's eyes softened and he smiled back. "Thanks, old man."


	5. Chapter 005

Title: Supernaturals

Author: Lazalot_Anreads

Beta: None

Characters/Pairings: Bella/Jacob, Billy/Charlie, Other Pairings

Rating: NC-17

Challenge: None

Summary: When Bella and Jacob clean out Bella's attic in order to find stuff for the Annual Police Charity Auction, they discover a beautiful bejeweled silver trunk that changes everything.

Notes: New Moon AU, No Imprinting, Slash, Alice didn't see Bella jump because Jacob was already to close

Chapter 005

"It sounds like you'd be an Empath," Marie offered after a moment of thought. "Not in quite the same way that Jasper Cullen is, of course, since you're a Witch rather than a Vampire. A Witch who is an Empath can do more than just sense and project emotions. They can also manipulate the emotions a subject already FEELS. Okay, Charlie, first I need to tell you what I told Bella yesterday - imagination and focus are the keys to EVERY power, and you must always learn to use them with your eyes open BEFORE you learn to use them with your eyes closed."

"That makes sense," Charlie said, and then rolled his eyes. "Well, it makes sense as much as any of this makes sense. What do I need to do?"

"It's simple enough. Bella is closest to you, so we'll use her as a subject. Imagine, Charlie, that you are actually your daughter, and focus on what she might be feeling. If I'm right and you ARE an Empath, it should come very easily to you." Marie then turned her attention to the youngest Swan. "Bella, I want you to pick one emotion you're currently feeling and concentrate on it as much as you can, since this will be Charlie's first time doing this. Empathy can be fairly overwhelming the first few times you use it, according to my mother. She was an Empath, so she'd know better than I would."

So Bella focused on her excitement at learning how to do all of this Witch stuff, and Charlie fought to keep his eyes open while he did as his grandmother had instructed. It didn't take him nearly as long as it had taken his daughter to Shield the day before. "Excited. She's excited about being a Witch," he said definitively, looking at his daughter for confirmation. When she nodded, he grinned. "It is pretty exciting. This is going to make it INCREDIBLY easy to ask the right questions when I'm interrogating a suspect."

"You're such a COP," Billy told him, laughing. "It's not even a job to you, it's more like your BIRTHRIGHT!" Even Charlie laughed at that, nodding his head in agreement.

"Okay, I'm next," Bella said when they'd all settled down, bouncing a little bit in her seat. "Give me something really COOL, Marie."

Marie rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. "I'll try - you know your powers aren't really up to ME. Let me think for a moment …" She played with her hair, her eyes glazing over as she considered the possibilities. Then her eyes widened and she smacked her forehead. "Of COURSE! You're more tolerant than me, even, of course you'll be a Shaper!"

"What does that mean?" Bella looked skeptical. It didn't sound very fantastic.

"Shaping is the power to change anything without a life force of its own in to something else, like so." Marie touched the white shift she still wore and it shimmered, becoming a strapless blue sundress decorated with sunflowers. "Try it."

"That IS cool!" Bella looked around for something to change, and her gaze fell on their outdated television. She got up and crossed to it quickly, knowing exactly what she wanted to do. She'd been saving up to get her father a large flat screen for Christmas, and she'd long since memorized the list of features for the model that she'd chosen. Determinedly keeping her eyes open as she pictured it and focused on what it would be able to do, she touched the screen gently and then watched in amazement as it shimmered and became exactly what she'd wanted - a standing seventy inch flat screen Sony that she knew without checking would do everything she'd planned it could do. Turning, she smiled at Charlie, who was staring at her creation with wide, hungry eyes. "I know it's only June, but Merry Christmas, Dad."

"YOU are an angel, Bella!" Charlie reached for the remote, but Marie smacked his hand and grabbed it, shoving it between the cushion and the arm of the recliner. "HEY!"

Marie giggled. "Sorry, Charlie, but we still have work to do. I'll tell you what - after we figure out what your second power is - and I think I already know - we'll do a simple test to figure out what elements you each rule and then we'll be done for the day. You'll have plenty of time to play with your new toy after that. Sound fair?"

Charlie grumbled a little, then nodded. "You're right, it can wait. This is more important. So what do you think my second power is?"

"Healing," Marie said simply, and watched as her grandson's head swung to stare at his best friend, who had a fragile look of hope in his eyes. "A Healer can heal any type of injury except for death, but doing so comes with a price. Any injury you heal, you have to OWN, for a few seconds at the least and twenty four hours at the most. Healing a permanent injury like Billy's would cost the entire twenty four hours. Oh, and even if an injury you Heal is life threatening, you would never die from taking it onto yourself."

"Couldn't he just heal himself?" Jacob asked. He also looked hopeful, desperately so. It had been hard on him, taking care of his father for so many years, and while he'd gladly keep doing it if he had to, he'd much rather for Billy to be able to take care of himself.

"No. Healers can only Heal others, never themselves," Marie replied. Then, to Charlie, "Are you ready to try it?"

Bella, who could see her father's face better than Marie, thought he looked even more hopeful than the Blacks, as well as completely terrified. "Dad?" she asked, concerned.

Charlie didn't answer her. Instead he spoke to his grandmother, though he was still looking at Billy. "Are you SURE I can do this, Marie?" He couldn't bare it if he tried to heal his best friend and it didn't work.

"No," Marie admitted, "but I haven't been wrong yet, have I? In fact, I'm beginning to think the First gave me a little something extra when it sealed me in the trunk, because before that I was TERRIBLE at guessing Witches' powers. If it hadn't been for my Mom, I probably never would have figured out what MINE were."

It wasn't the promise that he'd hoped for, but it was enough. Charlie got up and motioned for Jacob to switch seats with him, then sat down and, after pushing the coffee table out of the way, pulled Billy around to face him. "What do I do?"

"You have to have skin and eye contact, so take his hand and look into his eyes." Marie leaned forward to watch, and a strange look passed over her face, but it was

gone in an instant and she continued on. "Now, pick the color that represents pain to you and imagine a cloud of that color leaving Billy and entering you as you focus on making him better. Remember to keep your eyes open and your gaze locked with his. You'll know the instant it -"

"It WORKED!" Billy let go of Charlie's hand and patted his own thighs, looking shocked. "I can feel my legs!"

"Yeah, and I can't feel mine," Charlie added, smiling widely despite the terror that was lurking in his soul. He'd given his best friend his freedom back, and that was all that really mattered. "Think you can get off your lazy old ass and help me into your chair? Marie said something about a test before we can check out the kick ass TV my daughter made for me."

"Sure, of course, sure!" Billy jumped up, looked down at himself in amazement, then shook it off and helped Charlie into the wheelchair. "Marie, where am I taking him?"

"Take him into the kitchen and park him at the table. Bella, I need you to find a candle and some incense - if you don't have any, just bring me something I can Shape - and meet us in there." With that, Marie followed the men into the kitchen to set up the test.

Ten minutes later found Bella and Charlie sitting side by side at the table while Jacob sat next to Bella and Billy very pointedly STOOD beside Charlie. Marie sat across from her grandson and great granddaughter, and between them on the table, four items were lined up - potted white Azaleas that looked like they had seen better days, a burning stick of cinnamon incense that had once been a broken ink pen standing in an empty glass, a lit vanilla jar candle, and another glass filled with water.

"Okay, this won't take long," Marie said brightly. "You each have at least one element that you can control. Some Witches have two, but that's VERY rare, so don't get your hopes up. We'll start with you, Bella. Try to make these flowers a little healthier, okay? The keys are the same as they are for your powers, imagination and focus. You don't have to touch it, but you can if you want."

"Okay." Bella narrowed her eyes at the Azaleas, not bothering to touch since Marie had said it wasn't necessary, and imagined them looking healthier as she focused on restoring them to their original glory. The flowers responded beautifully, suddenly looking as glorious as they had when she'd bought them a year ago to brighten the place up. "Cool. So Earth is my element, then?"

"It looks that way, but there is always a possibility that you could have two," Marie said. "Try to affect the smoke from the incense in some way now."

Bella nodded in agreement and narrowed her eyes at the smoke, imagining that the smoke came out as letters and focusing on Jacob's name. To her astonishment, it worked, and everyone gasped.

"So Bella has Earth AND Air!" Jacob held out his hand for a high five, and Bella slapped it. "Awesome!"

Marie shook her head and motioned for Charlie to take his turn. He started with the Azaleas and ended up working his way through the entire selection before it was determined that he ALSO had two elements, Fire and Water. He'd made the candle flame shoot up until it almost reached the ceiling, and then he'd made the water turn to ice. Marie was delighted.

"Between the two of you, you make up ALL four elements!" she gushed. "I can barely believe it!"

"Well, believe it," Billy said with a smile. "We all saw it with our own eyes, after all. Hey, Jacob, why don't you, Bella, and Marie go into the living room and pick out a movie for us to watch on Charlie's fancy new TV? I need to talk to him about something."

"Okay," Jacob said, and grabbed each of the girls' hands to drag them into the living room while Billy wheeled Charlie down the hall to the master bedroom.

"What's up?" Charlie asked when Billy had closed the door and made himself comfortable on the edge of the king sized bed. He wheeled himself a little closer to his best friend. "You look kind of weird."

"I know how you hate it when people get all emotional on you, but you're just going to have to deal with it this time," Billy began. "What you did for me in there - Charlie, I know how much spinal injuries like mine scare you." Charlie blushed and started to look away, so Billy took his best friend's face in his hands to hold his gaze. "I just needed you to know that I understand what you did for me today, and that I - well, I love you, Charlie. You're my best friend."

Charlie's face turned almost purple, but he muttered, "Yeah, me too. I mean, about you. You know?"

Billy smiled. "I know."


	6. Chapter 006

Title: Supernaturals

Author: Lazalot_Anreads

Beta: None

Characters/Pairings: Bella/Jacob, Billy/Charlie, Other Pairings

Rating: NC-17

Challenge: None

Summary: When Bella and Jacob clean out Bella's attic in order to find stuff for the Annual Police Charity Auction, they discover a beautiful bejeweled silver trunk that changes everything.

Notes: New Moon AU, No Imprinting, Slash, Alice didn't see Bella jump because Jacob was already too close

Chapter 006

The four of them watched a movie after Bella Shaped the remote so that Charlie would be able to figure the TV out on his own, and then Billy spent the night in order to help Charlie, who would be wheelchair bound for at least two thirds of the next day.

The next morning at eight am, Marie got everyone up and fed them cheese omelets. She explained that she wanted to figure out the rest of Bella and Charlie's powers before the day was out because she had some things for both of them and she couldn't hand them over until they each knew all six of their personal powers. Then she sent them all to get cleaned up and told them to meet her in the living room when they were done. She cleaned up the kitchen the normal way and by the time she'd finished, a few minutes after nine, they were all waiting for her.

"Okay," she said as she sat in the recliner they'd left unoccupied for her, "it's Bella's turn, and I think that the way she loves with everything she is might mean that she's a Glamour. Glamming is the power to change one's own physical appearance either temporarily or permanently. Temporary changes can be undone easily or, if left alone, will wear off themselves in forty-eight hours. Permanent changes, on the other hand, do not wear off – and they're not so easy to undo, either. If you make any sort of permanent change, take a picture BEFORE you do it, or a tape, or whatever you need so you'll be able to fix it even if it's been a while. Got it?"

Bella sighed. "So far, except for my Shielding power, it looks like Dad is going to be much more effective against enemies. How is being able to change the way I look going to help us win against whoever we end up having to fight?"

Marie laughed. "You'd be surprised, hon. For example, let's pretend you were being attacked by Victoria – which could still very well happen. I'm sure you remember what James looked like?" Bella shuddered and nodded, and she went on. "Well, you could temporarily become an identical copy of him and use Victoria's ensuing confusion against her somehow."

"That makes sense, I guess, but I really hope I NEVER have to look like James. Yuck." Bella made a face. "Okay, let's test your theory, then. Is there anything special I need to do besides imagine and focus?"

"You have to touch the area you want to affect, like with Shaping, and be VERY clear in your mind on whether you want a temporary change or a permanent one. If I were you, I wouldn't try permanent until I'd mastered temporary, because if you make a mistake it'll be kind of difficult to fix it since you're just now learning about this power. Why don't you start by temporarily turning your hair a different color?"

"Okay." Bella thought for a second, then grinned and touched her hair, which became neon green. They all laughed, and then Bella touched her hair again and undid it, leaving her hair looking exactly as it had before. "Cool. So it's Dad's turn now. What have you got for him, Marie?"

"Make sure it's something I can do without having to use my legs, since that will be impossible until about four fifteen," Charlie added, glaring down at his temporarily useless legs. He hated the helpless feeling that came with being confined to a wheelchair and wondered how Billy had stood it for so many years. He was SO glad that he'd been able to help his best friend.

"Well, everything I've seen of you from watching Bella and with my own two eyes has proven you to be very contradictory, so I think you could be a Copier. That means you can make copies of yourself and control them all at once. Try it – there's nothing special you need to know. Oh, but your copy will be paralyzed too, so you should focus it into this chair." She got up and sat on the arm of the recliner instead. Almost immediately, there was a popping sound and a perfect copy of Charlie appeared in the chair beside her.

The two Charlies stared at each other for a moment, and then there was another pop and the copy disappeared. Charlie shuddered. "That was really CREEPY, Marie. It felt so WEIRD, being in two places at once."

There was a knock at the front door, then, and they all looked at it. Bella spoke first. "Who could that be? Oh NO, Dad, what if it's one of your officers here to check on why you've called in yesterday and today? They can't see you like this!"

But Jacob was stiff, sniffing the air. "It's not, Bella. It's … God, I'm sorry, I don't know what they're doing here, but it's the Cullens. ALL of them."

"WHAT?" Charlie would have leapt to his feet had he been able to do so. He watched as Bella paled dramatically and clenched his fists. "Well, they can just go right back to wherever they came from! They aren't welcome in THIS house!"

"We understand how you feel, Chief Swan," Carlisle's voice came through the door, "but we're not here to hurt ANYONE, especially your daughter. Please let us in so that we can explain."

Nobody moved, so Marie heaved a sigh and got up to open the door and let the seven Vampires in. As Edward stepped over the threshold last, she said quietly, "I'm sure you've read my mind and know JUST what I think of YOU. Don't go anywhere near my great granddaughter, or you'll learn what happens when you piss a Witch off." He nodded miserably, and she closed the door behind him. "I'm glad we understand each other."

Carlisle blinked when he saw that Billy was standing and Charlie was confined to a wheelchair. "How -"

"Just tell us what you're doing here so you can get the hell out," Charlie snapped, cutting him off. "Your presence here is offensive to me and my family." He purposely included Billy and Jacob with a wave of his arm, hoping to convey to his best friend and his best friend's son just how much they both meant to he and Bella without having to be too direct. Billy reached down and squeezed his shoulder and he knew he'd gotten his message across.

"Victoria is creating an army of newborn Vampires in Seattle so that she can get past the Werewolves to Bella," Alice blurted out. "We're here to help you guys fight them."

"Shit," Charlie swore. "Marie, is it possible that we could handle this WITHOUT the Cullens?"

"Well, since Jacob has cut ties with his Pack, I doubt it." Marie frowned. "But I don't think either of us can make this particular choice, regardless. Bella should be the one to decide whether these DESERTERS stay or go."

All eyes turned to Bella, who was wrapped up tight in Jacob's arms, her own eyes filled with tears that she absolutely REFUSED to let fall in front of the Vampires she had once thought of as family. "We're not strong enough on our own, yet," she admitted in a trembling voice. "I think we DO need them. But for right now I think they should leave, because we still have work to do and I don't think I could concentrate if they stayed."

"You heard the girl," Billy told Carlisle coolly. "Take your family and go. We'll be in touch sometime tomorrow."

"Alright." Carlisle nodded, and then turned to Bella with soft, sad eyes. "For what it's worth, we truly thought that leaving you would be the right thing to do after what happened on your birthday. We would have said goodbye, but Edward … Well, it's done with now. But we ARE sorry. More sorry than you'll ever know." With that, he ushered his family out the door, actually resorting to dragging Edward and Alice when they both refused to move. Marie shut the door behind them, and the Swans and the Blacks breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Bella, are you sure that you can handle this right now?" Marie asked quietly, completely prepared to put figuring out the rest of their powers off for another day if her great granddaughter was too upset to continue. She knew what a blow the Cullens' sudden return must have been for the poor girl.

Bella took a deep breath and pulled away from Jacob's warm embrace, straightening her spine determinedly. "I want to keep going." She offered them all a weak smile. "I want my presents."

"Alright, Bella," Marie agreed with a sympathetic smile of her own. "Another power I think you have – and by this point I'm pretty sure I'm right about the First giving me a little something extra – is Mocking. A Mocker can basically borrow any power that anyone within one hundred feet of them has, and not just Witch powers. When I say any, I mean ANY."

"So if I'm fighting Vampires, I can basically use all of their own abilities against them?" Bella asked, just to be sure that she had the right idea. When Marie nodded, she grinned so widely that Charlie privately wondered if her face would freeze like that. But then the grin melted into a more normal smile, and he smiled as well, relieved. "So if I want to, I can be a wolf and run with Jacob as long as we stay within one hundred feet of each other?"

Marie nodded again. "That was actually the way I planned to test it, but the running is going to have to wait for a little while, okay? We still have a lot to do today. Now let's go outside." She led the way through the kitchen and out the back door, because that was where the wheelchair ramp was and it was also the only place outside that was secluded enough that the neighbors wouldn't see anything. They all followed her, Billy pushing Charlie with Bella and Jacob bringing up the rear.

"Now, you can't Mock a power unless you know someone in range HAS that power," Marie cautioned. "So don't go thinking that you're suddenly some all powerful being, Bella. Mocking IS an impressive power, and it's even rarer than your Shielding power, but the first rule of battle is to NEVER underestimate your enemies."

"Believe me, Marie, I won't be getting a God – or First – complex anytime soon," Bella promised. Then she turned to face Jacob. "You first, buddy. Don't worry about your clothes – I'm sure Marie won't mind fixing them for us."

"Not at all," her great grandmother agreed as Jacob backed away to a safe distance and burst into his Wolf skin. "Okay, Bella, this should be the easiest power you've used so far. There's nothing special you need to know. Just go ahead and do it."

Bella nodded and backed away until she was positive she wouldn't hurt anybody when she changed. Then, taking a deep breath, she imagined what it might feel like to be a Wolf and focused on using Jacob's power to transform herself. At first nothing seemed to be happening, but then, quite suddenly, she burst into a Werewolf just like she'd seen Jacob do a hundred times. A second after that, Jacob's mind seemed to reach for hers, which reached back for his, and then they could hear each others' thoughts.

[Whoa,] Jacob was thinking, [she's MAGNIFICENT!]

Had it been possible in that form, Bella would have blushed. [What do I look like, Jacob? Can you show me a picture?]

[Sure,] Jacob replied easily, and in the next moment she was seeing herself through his eyes.

Bella saw that she was huge – almost as big as Jacob – and that her fur was a glittering gold color that she'd never imagined could exist. It contrasted beautifully with her dark emerald green eyes, she thought.

[It sure does,] Jacob answered her thought with a sappy mental sigh. [But hey, we've got lots more to do today, so I'll go into the woods while you change back and you can tell my Dad to bring me my clothes as soon as you're back to normal, okay?]

[Okay,] Bella agreed easily, and watched Jacob disappear into the trees.

Before she phased back though, Jacob said one last thing. [I think we were right to trust Marie, don't you?]

[I KNOW we were right,] Bella replied, and then phased back. Awkwardly, she said to Billy – who had turned his back to give her privacy, "Jacob said to tell you to bring him his clothes, Billy."

"Right, of course." He reached behind him and she put her friend's shorts in his hand, then hurriedly got dressed herself while Charlie's and Marie's heads were turned politely away from her.

"So," Bella said brightly once she was dressed, "I guess you were right again, Marie!"


End file.
